The Solinas finalists
by Cineuropa
The most prestigious Italian award for subject and screenwriters, the Solinas Prize, has announced the shortlist of 10 finalists chosen to compete for the award. There were 446 entries and the finalists are made up of 6 men and 4 women, with the works equally divided between comedies and dramas. For the first time, this year the award ceremony will be taking place in Bologna, from October 23 to 25.
Gianni Profita, the head of the Italian film board, has promised further funding for the 'Solinas', and in the meantime the award has escaped the drastic cuts imposed by the finance minister, Giulio Tremonti. And Profita is hoping that the Prize will become institutionalised, as he stressed that in Italy there’s very little attention paid to the script, something which is the heart of a film, just as there is also very little investment made in screenplays, as opposed to what happens in other countries, especially in America.
The Solinas Prize is promoted by the Culture Ministry, and this year it also enjoys the support of the Emilia Romagna Region, and the Bologna municipality and Film Archive and Itc Movie.
October 25 will see the announcement of the winners of the 4 writing grants (as opposed to 3 in the past) worth €5,000 each, as well as the Solinas Film Writing Prize (which has been doubled to €10,000), and the newly set up prize for the Best Comedy, worth €7,000 thanks to the new collaboration of the partners from Bologna. The themes tackled by the finalists include daring love stories set in current day Italy that either end up creating or destroying a marriage, to the racial persecution of the Jews, to the exploitation of immigrant workers, a 16 year old anorexic and the city of Catania, as shown through the eyes of the writer and journalist Pippo Fava, who was murdered by the mafia.
The Finalists:
Ballata per San Berillo by Salvatore Zinna
E allora tanti saluti by Pier Paolo Piciarelli
I miei giorni da leone by Lorenzo Favella
Il mare di cemento by Angelo Ruta
Il nemico dell'acqua by Filippo Gravino
La storia taciuta by Anna Gasco
Male di miele by Paola Rota
Mandovò by Cosimo Calamini
Prima di dormire by Violetta Bellocchio
Spirito evaporato by Maria Daniela Raineri.
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